Video content has become a critical component in any marketing campaign, but while pre-recorded video is helpful, there’s definitely something to be said for utilizing Facebook Live video to spread the word about your business and brand.
Live videos aren’t for you?
Wrong.
Live video is for everyone.
It’s easy to use, doesn’t require a fancy set-up (unless you want one), and provides an avalanche of benefits across nearly every industry and sector.
Super Unique Content
Live video streaming started to become popular a few years ago and we’ve seen several different apps try, and fail, to grab the attention of different audiences. As Periscope and other apps developed, Facebook felt the pressure to compete and the introduction of the Live feature put business owners in a unique position to create new, fresh content on a regular basis.
All you really need to do is come up with a plan or calendar outlining what you want to highlight or discuss. Then, make sure you actually hop on Live at the times you’ve incorporated into your strategy. The more you go live, the more people will be excited about seeing new, unique content from your brand.
Strengthening Your Personal Brand
People are inundated with ads day in and day out. They’re all mass-produced and scripted and don’t really give the public a good sense of the real people behind the brand.
Facebook Live videos solve this problem by forcing you to relax and be natural. Sure, you may feel stiff and awkward at first, but as long as you speak from the heart and avoid reading from a pre-written script, you’ll ultimately find people feel more connected to you and your brand.
Over time, your audience will ultimately become more open and receptive to your message, seeing you as a respected influencer. This change will later translate into a warmer reception when it comes to your sales pitches.
You Create a Sense of Community
The ability to interact with people who are watching your video not only helps with the aforementioned brand strengthening, but it also gives your viewers a strong sense of belonging. When you see their comments and mention them by name, they begin to feel as though they are a part of your brand’s unique community. Read their names out, thank them for watching, and answer their questions.
Live Videos are Permanent Content
Live videos don’t disappear once you’ve finished streaming. A simple click of a button once you’ve finished your video saves your content to your timeline for future viewing. This means that your video will not only get engagement and interaction from those who actually caught it live, but it will continue to show up in the feeds of other fans throughout the day as well.
You Can Repurpose the Content
You aren’t limited in how you can use your Facebook Live content once you’ve finished recording. You can share the video into your groups, embed the Facebook post within your blog, or even download and save the video for a little editing before a quick upload to YouTube. The more you share and repurpose your videos, the broader your ultimate reach.
Facebook Live is Designed for Longer Content
While you should still carefully plan the length of your day-to-day Live posts, Facebook’s platforms differ from most others in that it allows you to record for up to four continuous hours. This means you can leverage the platform as a source for streaming training videos, conferences, small gigs, and other event types. With a bit of planning, you can hype these events for optimal viewing.
Your Favorite 4-Letter F Word
No, not that word.
Free. The word is free.
(This is a family-friendly blog, after all)
Facebook Live is free. All you need is a mobile device, like a phone or tablet. You can even go live from a desktop or laptop if you have a camera set-up. The most you’re going to spend is time planning, making this an incredibly low-cost strategy for brands to incorporate. It’s also just about perfect for smaller businesses.
Live Videos are Catalysts for Future Content
Let’s say you go Live for a short period of time and discuss a few of your favorite ideas with your audience. Make sure you go back to the video later to take some notes. The concepts you introduced in your Live are seedlings for longer video tutorials, blog posts, infographics, and tons of new content you can use across your social platforms, websites, and email campaigns.
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger agrees. He recently shared that he gets some of his blog content ideas from the questions his fans ask him during Live video streams.
Facebook Regularly Prioritizes Live Content
Facebook loves Live and will prioritize a Live video post, especially while it is still actively live, over other types of content. You’ll need to do a bit of experimenting to see how well it works for you, but both small and large pages notice huge jumps in engagement and interaction during Live broadcasts. These numbers are often much higher than they get with their traditional text and image updates.
Once your friends start watching and engaging, their friends start to see the video, too. The potential for organic reach is absolutely astounding.
The Wrap
Not a fan of the camera?
It’s time to get over it – or at least find someone within your organization who will.
No matter how you feel about it, the results don’t lie. Facebook Live is a very usable tool for creating creative content, whether you choose to record on the fly or create a long-term strategy.
Grab your camera, find a quiet room with natural lighting, make sure you aren’t echoing, write a short caption, and hit record. Don’t be afraid to tell your followers that you’re new at Live videos, either. You will surprise yourself with the amount of support you receive from a captivated audience as long as you’re making an effort. So give it a try, going Live once or twice a week. Don’t forget to come back here and leave a comment to let us know how it goes!
awesome article.. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading.
Total relevant article. Even You tube gives some priority to those feeds that are live. What do you think about having previously created content ready to add to portions of a live feed? This might be a good way to add some polish to an impromptu live setting. Your thoughts?
Also, do you recommend a given time frame in which to pre-announce the coming live show?
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
Creating content and adding it to live video (whether it’s segments or title bars) is a great way to make your live video look more polished. And, you never know what could happen in the world of live video so it’s always good to be prepared with other content ‘just in case.’
Announcing a live video a week or two in advance is good. It’ll help create build up for your audience without being so far in advance that they forget about it before the event happens. Even better, though, is to have a live video each week. If it follows a schedule, your audience will know when to expect it and be tuned in.